RICHMOND – When a three-judge panel declared Virginia's 3rd Congressional District unconstitutional last October, the court told the General Assembly to redraw the map during its next legislative session.

It was American poet John Godfrey Saxe, not German leader Otto von Bismarck, who first compared the making of laws to the making of sausages. But even if a close examination of the legislative process is discouraged, the recipe for progress is hardly a...

RICHMOND – Republican state senators shot down changes to the state's equal pay regulations on Monday.
Senate Bill 772 would have toughened existing penalties for not paying men and women an equal wage for equal work, making the penalty triple...

Sen. John McCain appears to have been stymied — at least for now — in his attempt to repeal a 1920 law that protects U.S. shipping, which will be welcome news to the maritime industry.
The Arizona Republican had wanted to repeal a key...

Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas was chosen over Langley Air Force Base in Hampton to host the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center Headquarters (AFIMSC), the Air Force announced Wednesday.
While it's a blow to plans that would have...

advertisement

RELATED TOPICS

Hampton Roads' congressional delegation offered mixed responses – along party lines — to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.
Democrats praised the president's address as expansive and far-reaching, Republicans blamed Obama for gridlock and for failing to draft proposals that are agreeable to both conservative and liberal legislators.
Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake, decried the president's proposals on immigration, taxes and military spending.
"If you look across the...

Newport News Shipbuilding has a stake in a new and potentially divisive method for funding a future class of submarine, a project considered the Navy's top priority.
At issue is how to replace the aging fleet of Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, often referred to as "boomers," which play an increasingly important role in America's ability to deliver a nuclear punch.
Replacing the Ohio-class fleet with new submarines has been deemed so important — and so difficult to afford in tight fiscal...

It sounds like one of those mechanical monsters from a not-very-good kids’ movie, and CROmnibus (the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2015) got mixed reviews from Hampton Roads’ Congressional delegation.
It split the delegation, with U.S. reps. Scott Rigell and Randy Forbes voting for and U.S. reps. Bobby Scott and Rob Wittman voting against.
It includes 11 bills to fund various parts of the federal government through September, and one to maintain the...

In a letter released Monday, several members of the Virginia delegation — most from Hampton Roads — asked the director of the Air National Guard to establish a cyberoperations squadron at Langley Air Force Base.
The letter was signed by U.S. Senators Mark Warner, D-Va., and Tim Kaine, D-Va.; and U.S. Reps. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-Newport News; Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake; Scott Rigell, R-Virginia Beach; Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland and Gerry Connolly, D-Fairfax.
In it, they asked Lt. Gen....

That was some roller coaster in politics, 2014 was.
A sure-bet Senate election turned squeaker. A dance on the edge of a fiscal cliff over the state budget. A special session on the Medicaid expansion standoff that ended up … a standoff.
Then there was that long, long trial.
What are the prospects for 2015? That's anyone's guess. So here are ours.
Question: Will Gov. Terry McAuliffe and the Legislature get along this year?
Dave Ress: Depending on how much credit he can grab for the easy,...

The House on Thursday authorized $585 billion in defense spending that contains mixed news on pay and benefits for service members and funds key projects for Newport News-based Huntington Ingalls Industries.
The compromise bill now heads to the Senate, where it has support. However, one more hurdle remains.
Congress faces a Dec. 11 deadline to pass a new budget or approve another continuing resolution to fund the government at current levels for a specific time. A continuing resolution, or CR, would...